Answer:
Douglass was reluctant to name his 'playfellows' who helped him read because he wanted to give them equal standing with himself in setting him free from slavery.
Step-by-step explanation:
In eighteenth chapter of Part II of his autobiography titled 'Life and Times of Frederick Douglass', Douglass gave special thanks to all those who helped him in his journey towards freedom.
In this chapter, he pays his gratitude and acknowledging the efforts to those men and women who hellped him in anyways.
Douglass was, therefore, reluctant to name his 'playfellows' because he wanted to pay his gratitude to them. He wanted to give them equal standing with himself in setting him free. Though Douglass is labeled 'self-made man' yet there are people behind his success and in this chapter he named them.